Alec Baldwin has spoken out about the baseless claims Donald Trump made about him following the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the Rust movie set.
The actor, 64, spoke candidly to CNN about the aftermath of Hutchins' death. The 42-year-old crew member died ten months ago after being fatally shot with a prop gun while the movie was in production in New Mexico.
Baldwin told the news outlet that he had genuine fears for his safety after Trump came forward with claims that he believed Baldwin shot the talented cinematographer deliberately.
Per The Hill, the former POTUS reportedly discussed the tragic incident with radio host Chris Stigall during his appearance on the latter's podcast. Speaking about Baldwin, Trump said: "He's a troubled guy. There’s something wrong with him. I’ve watched him for years. He gets into fistfights with reporters."
"He’s a cuckoo-bird. He’s a nutjob. And usually, when there’s somebody like that, you know, in my opinion, he had something to do with it," Trump added.
Baldwin recalled Trump's comments during his CNN interview, stating: "To me [that] was the only time I thought that I needed – that I was worried what was going to happen. Because here was Trump, who instructed people to commit acts of violence and he was pointing the finger at me and saying, I was responsible for the death."
(Baldwin was seemingly referring to the repeated claims that Trump incited violence prior to the January 6 Capitol riots.)
"There is just this torrent of people attacking me who don't know the facts," Baldwin continued, before adding that the stress he felt after the incident has "taken years" off his life.
The incident, which occurred on a movie set in New Mexico last year, made international headlines and has since prompted an FBI investigation.
Now, as the actor is facing a lawsuit from Hutchins' family, he is placing the blame on the movie's prop manager, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed.
"Someone put a live bullet in the gun who should have known better," Baldwin told CNN. "That was her job. Her job was to look at the ammunition and put in the dummy round or the blank round, and there wasn't supposed to be any live rounds on the set."
The Pearl Harbor actor also placed blame on assistant director David Halls, who Baldwin claimed gave him the weapon and assured him it was not loaded: "There are two people who didn't do what they were supposed to do [...] I'm not sitting there saying I want them to, you know, go to prison, or I want their lives to be hell."
"I don't want that. But I want everybody to know that those are the two people that are responsible for what happened," Baldwin added.
Attorneys for Gutierrez-Reed and Halls have since stated that Baldwin is attempting to deflect the blame by placing fault on them, the Guardian reported.
An FBI forensic testing report obtained by ABC News last week also determined that the gun could not have been fired without pulling the trigger.
However, Baldwin's lawyers have refuted this evidence, stating that the federal bureau's findings were "misconstrued" and that the gun was "in poor condition."
Allegedly, Gutierrez-Reed was supposed to perform a firearm check on the prop gun before it was given to Baldwin to use, however, Baldwin recalls that this check never happened. He stated that Halls gave him the gun directly.
"Why didn't she check that bullet? Why didn't Halls obey her? Why did he give me the gun? Why didn't he check? Why did he tell the crew [it wasn't loaded]?" Baldwin told CNN.
A wrongful death lawsuit filed by Hutchins' family against Baldwin and the film's producers remains ongoing, as is a $137,000 fine from New Mexico's Occupational Health and Safety Bureau against the film production company, per NPR.